Slot machine game-hidden object

ABSTRACT

A slot machine includes a prize display, a coin entry slot, and payout tray and internally mounted game control processor circuits. The game display means comprises a video display screen controlled to display a game image divided into a matrix of elements or player selectable zones. The video screen has an array of touch sensitive areas located on its display surface with one such area associated with each matrix element. The control processor causes an image to be displayed on the display means, such as a sportsman playing his sport and randomly selects one or more of the matrix elements to have a prize associated with it. The player selects one of the matrix elements to have a prize by touching the screen within the area of the respective element to be selected, thereby causing the image in the element to change to reveal the associated prize value. Additional player controls are implemented by displaying images corresponding to controls on the screen such that when the control images are touched, the associated function is caused to be performed. In the event that the player wins the game, by selecting a zone having associated prize value, the machine will pay him a prize equivalent to the prize value in the zone selected by the player multiplied by the number of units bet, if appropriate.

INTRODUCTION

The present invention relates to gaming machines of the type generallyreferred to as slot machines, fruit machines or poker machines, and inparticular the invention provides a new game played on such a machine.

Players who regularly play gaming machines quickly tire of particulargames and therefore it is necessary for manufacturers of these machinesto come up with innovative games or game features that add interest tothe games provided on such machines in order to keep the players amusedand therefore willing to continue playing the game.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Gaming or poker machines have been well known in the state of New SouthWales for many years and have more recently gained considerablepopularity throughout Australia, with quite substantial amounts of moneywagered on these machines. There is a growing tendency for Stategovernments to legalise the use of gaming machines by licensingoperators, with resulting revenue gains through licence fees andtaxation of monies invested. The licensed operation of gaming machinesis the subject of State legislation and regulation. This regulationalmost always dictates a minimum percentage payout for a gaming machine.For example, a minimum of 85% of monies invested must be returned aswinnings, and manufacturers of gaming machines therefore must designtheir machines around these regulatory controls.

With the growth that has occurred in the gaming machine market there isintense competition between manufacturers to supply the various existingand new venues. When selecting a supplier of gaming machines, theoperator of a venue will often pay close attention to the popularity ofvarious games with their patrons.

Therefore, gaming machine manufacturers are keen to devise games whichare popular with players, as a mechanism for improving sales.

In particular, manufacturers regularly devise new games which have notpreviously been seen on slot machines in order to stimulate renewal ofplayer interest.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A slot machine including display means arranged to display a game beingplayed on the machine, game initiating means to initiate a game on themachine and game control means responsive to the initiating means tocontrol the playing of the game, characterised in that the display meansis arranged to display:

a game image having a plurality of player selectable zones, the controlmeans including player zone selection means, a prize being associatedwith at least one of the zones, and at least one of the zones beingrandomly selected by the control means to be a winning zone, selectionof which by the player causes a related prize to be awarded to theplayer.

The game image may either be a static image or a dynamic (ie video)image, depending upon the particular embodiment of the invention.

In one embodiment, clues are provided to assist the player indetermining the probability of a particular zone being the winning zone.

Some embodiments of the invention will include some zones which have azero prize value such that if randomly selected by the controller andselected by the player, no prize is awarded to the player.

Preferably, the zone selection means includes touch sensors associatedwith the display means such that touching the display means within thearea of one of the player selectable zones causes the respective zone tobe selected. Preferably, the display means is a video screen or LCDpanel and touch sensors are touch switches associated with zones of thedisplay.

In preferred embodiments, the game image may display a sportsman playinghis sport or a scene covering a hidden target. Examples include a golferteeing off, a soccer player kicking a ball, a rugby player passing aball, an angler casting his fly or a battleship dropping a depth chargeor firing missiles. The player wins the game by selecting a zone in thedisplay in which the sportsman's ball or fly lands, or the location of ahidden submarine hit by the ship's depth charge or missiles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way ofexample with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a touch screen slot machine incorporating the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a screen layout for an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates the screen layout of FIG. 2 after a winning zone hasbeen selected;

FIG. 4 illustrates the screen layout of FIG. 2 after a non-winning zonehas been selected;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing operation of the game described withreference to FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a slot machine control circuit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following detailed description, the methodology of theembodiments will be described and it is to be understood that it iswithin the capabilities of the non-inventive worker in the art tointroduce the methodology on any standard microprocessor based gamingmachine by means of appropriate programming.

Referring to FIG. 1, the illustrated embodiment of the invention ishoused in a conventional slot machine cabinet 10 including a prizedisplay 12, a coin entry slot 13, a payout tray 14 and internallymounted game control processor circuits (refer to FIG. 6).

Preferably, the game display means 11 comprises a video display screen11 controlled to display a game image divided into a matrix of elementsor player selectable zones. The video screen is preferably of the touchsensitive variety, having an array of touch sensitive areas located onits display surface with one such area associated with each matrixelement 40-54 (refer to FIG. 2). The player selects one of the matrixelements (eg. 41 and 48) by touching the screen within the area of therespective element to be selected, thereby causing the image in theelement to change to reveal the associated prize value (refer to 41 and48 in FIG. 3). Additional player controls may be implemented bydisplaying images 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, corresponding to controls onthe screen such that when the control images are touched, the associatedfunction is caused to be performed.

Referring to FIG. 2, a screen layout is illustrated for a firstembodiment of the invention. In this embodiment, one such player controlis a gamble button 23. which when touched causes a game to be initiated.Additionally, buttons 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22 enable bets of 1-5 creditsto be placed on each game. The player first touches the gamble button 23which causes the game to commence and an image into a matrix of imageelements 40-75 to be displayed.

Once the image is displayed, the player may select his bet which will bededucted from his available credit (and will cause the prize to bemultiplied by the number of bet units selected). In some embodiments betselection may not be provided and all bets will be of one unit.

After the player has selected his bet using buttons 18-22 he may selectan image element by touching the appropriate screen position (eg. 49).

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, as the player selects an image element. theassociated prize indica will be displayed (2 units in the case of zone49) to reveal a prize value and simultaneously the winning zone will bedisplayed (zone 49 in FIG. 3 and zone 45 in FIG. 4) and in the eventthat the winning zone and the player selected zone are identical (eg asin FIG. 3) or one of the zones reveals a wild symbol, a prize is awardedto the player. The prize will be the value revealed (2 in the case ofzone 49) multiplied by the number of units bet, if appropriate.

Referring to FIG. 5, a flow diagram is illustrated to show the logic ofa control program which controls the operation of the game. From thisdiagram it will noted that, after starting, the machine awaits thetouching of the gamble button 23 to commence the game. The controlprogram then causes the display of an image comprising a matrix of imageelements and randomly associates prizes with each displayed indicia. Thegame image may be the same for each game or may be a variation on thesame theme with different backgrounds and orientations of charactersetc, for example, if the image is of a golfer, each game may represent adifferent hole of a course, a different location on a given hole, or adifferent golf course.

The display might also indicate information relating to the image suchas the golfers capability with various clubs and the player may in someembodiments control the game by for example selecting the club to beused by the golfer using the auxiliary controls.

The program to implement the sequence of FIG. 4 runs on a standardgaming machine control processor 31 as illustrated schematically in FIG.6. This processor forms part of a controller 30 which drives the displayscreen 11 and receives touch input signals from touch sensors 32 as wellas receiving coin input pulses from a coin chute mechanism 33 anddriving a coin payout mechanism 34.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown inthe specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope ofthe invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are,therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and notrestrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A slot machine including display means arrangedto display a game being played on the machine, game initiating means toinitiate a game on the machine and game control means responsive to theinitiating means to control the playing of the game, characterized inthat the display means is arranged to display a game image having aplurality of player selectable zones, the control means including playerzone selection means, a prize being associated with at least one of thezones, and at least one of the zones being randomly selected by thecontrol means to be a winning zone, selection of which by the playercauses a related prize to be awarded to the player.
 2. The slot machineof claim 1 wherein the game image is a static image.
 3. The slot machineof claim 1 wherein the game image is a dynamic image.
 4. The slotmachine of claim 1, wherein clues are provided to assist the player indetermining the probability of a particular zone being the winning zone.5. The slot machine of claim 1, wherein the game includes one or morezones which have a zone prize value such that if randomly selected bythe controller and selected by the player, no prize is awarded to theplayer.
 6. The slot machine of claim 1, wherein the zone selection meansincludes touch sensors associated with the display means such thattouching the display means within the area of one of the playerselectable zones causes the respective zone to be selected.
 7. The slotmachine of claim 1, wherein the display means is a video screen.
 8. Theslot machine of claim 1, wherein the display means is an LCD panel. 9.The slot machine of claim 1, wherein the zone selection means is a setof touch switches associated with zones of the display.
 10. The slotmachine of claim 1, wherein the game image displays a sportsman playinghis sport.
 11. The slot machine as claimed in claim 10, wherein the gameimage displays a golfer teeing off his golf ball.
 12. The slot machineas claimed in claim 10 wherein the game image displays a soccer playerkicking a ball.
 13. The slot machine as claimed in claim 10 wherein thegame image displays a rugby player passing a ball.
 14. The slot machineas claimed in claim 11, wherein the game is won by the player selectinga zone in the display in which the golf has landed.
 15. The slot machineas claimed in claim 10, wherein the game image display an angler castinga fly.
 16. The slot machine as claimed in claim 15, wherein the game iswon by the player selecting a zone in the display in which the fly haslanded.
 17. The slot machine of claim 1, wherein the game image displaysa scene covering a hidden target.
 18. The slot machine as claimed inclaim 17, wherein the game image displays a battleship dropping a depthcharge and hitting the hidden target.
 19. The slot machine as claimed inclaim 18, wherein the hidden target is a submarine and the game is wonby the player selecting a zone in the display containing the location ofthe submarine hit by the ship's depth charge.
 20. The slot machine asclaimed in claim 17, wherein the game image displays a battleship firingmissiles and hitting the hidden target.
 21. The slot machine as claimedin claim 20, wherein the hidden target is a submarine and the game iswon by the player selecting a zone in the display containing thelocation of the submarine hit by the ship's missiles.
 22. The slotmachine as claimed in claim 12, wherein the game is won by the playerselecting a zone in the display in which the ball has landed.
 23. Theslot machine as claimed in claim 13, wherein the game is won by theplayer selecting a zone in the display in which the ball has landed.